2011 SOLAR Alumni

Yersinia pestis may not be as successful at intracellular growth as previously thought

Blanche will graduate from the University of the Virgin Islands in May 2012. She is applying to post-baccalaureate programs including UNC PREP and others at the NIH to gain experience working long-term on a research project before applying to graduate schools in the fall of 2012.

The Role of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Receptor in Obesity-Associated Colorectal Cancer

Marienid is a senior in the Chemistry department at the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. She'll be graduating in May 2013 and her plan for the future is to do a Ph. D. in an area related to Cancer Biology or Analytical Chemistry. During the summer she'll be taking the GRE in order to start applying to graduate school in the fall.

Adriana Diaz

University of Puerto Rico at Cayey

Dr. Victor Garcia

M172A mutation in the Nef Protein can enhance dimerization

Adriana is finishing her last semester as an undergraduate student at UPR-Cayey and will graduate in May 2012. This summer she will finish the last In-Silico experiments in the influenza project she is working on on campus. Adriana is waiting to hear back from graduate programs she applied to at the University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Pittsburgh and the University of Puerto Rico Medical School.

Alina Monteagudo

University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras

Dr. Al Baldwin

Investigating the Role of NF-κB in Drug Resistant Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

Alina is finishing up her last semester as an undergraduate student in the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras campus. She applied to graduate programs in the fall of 2011 and will be making a decision about the the step in her career this spring.

Kasey Vernon

North Carolina A&T

Dr. Karen Mohlke

Transcriptional Activity of DNA Variants Associated with Total Cholesterol, HDL-C, and LDL-C Levels

Kasey will be a senior at North Carolina A&T in the fall of 2012. This summer she will do another research internship (location still pending) and begin applying to graduate schools.

Joshua Onyango

Oakwood University

Dr. Ben Philpot

Pre-synaptic NMDA receptors do not promote spontaneous GABA release in the CA1 region of the Hippocampus and L2/3 of the Visual Cortex

Josh is currently a junior Biomedical Science major at Oakwood University and will graudate in May, 2013. This summer he will be doing research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in Seattle, Washington at the Neuroscience department. He's considering pursuing an MD or an MD/PhD dual-degree. He's hoping that this second summer research internship will give him a better idea of which path to follow.

Alexis is a junior at Oakwood and will graduate May 2013. She plans on pursuing a career in medicine. This summer she will be in an Undergraduate Summer Enrichment Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences doing a MCAT prep course.

Danny Alston

Elizabeth City State University

Dr. Matt Redinbo

Improving the Crystal Quality for C-terminal Domain of Staphylococcus aureus